Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
by EB91
Summary: Inspired by the song "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" by Mae. Mark and Maureen are young, growing up, and making mistakes. One mistake they make changes their life forever...one-shot, Mark/Maureen.


**Here's a songfic/story/one-shot inspired by the song, "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" by Mae. I love this song, and I've been wanting to write a fanfic to go along with its story for some time now, so here it is. :)**

Oh, and here's some background info that's never mentioned in the story (you know, just so you won't get confused. XD haha.)  
- Mark is 18, and Maureen is 17. They're still in high school when this happens.

**So, I hope you enjoy this, and maybe leave a review? Feedback is awesome. :)**

**Note - Song and lyrics belong to the band Mae. Mark and Maureen and everything Rent in this story belong to Jonathan Larson.**

* * *

_**We made plans to be unbreakable. Love was all we knew. No insurance for the unthinkable. Blindly get us through.  
**_

"Mark?" she asked quietly, snaking her hand through the grass, in search of his. When she found it, she grasped it, entwining her fingers in his.

"Mmm?" he answered, still looking up at the clouds which were lazily making their way across the sky high above them.

"I," she began, but stopped short, finding it harder to say than she had thought it would be. After all, it was her first time saying it to a boy and actually meaning it. She took a slight breath and began again.

"I...love you..." she whispered, and turned her head to look at her boyfriend lying in the grass next to her. He turned his head to face Maureen, looking her in the eye, his transparently blond eyebrows raised. When he looked her in the eye, he knew she was sincere about it, and that she meant it with all her heart.

Squeezing her hand slightly, he smiled at her, looking her in the eye.

"I love you too." he brought her hand up to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back of it.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Really?!" she asked, smiling, relief washing over her. Her eyes were wide with excitement.

"Well, yeah...I mean," he struggled for words. Maureen's smile was rendered at his response. Upon seeing Maureen's now hurt face, Mark continued.

"No! It's not...It's just," he paused, taking a deep breath, finding it easier to concentrate on the sky than her upset frown.

"It's just...You're amazing, Mo." he gushed, closing his eyes. "You're smart, funny, beautiful," he looked into her eyes, "not afraid to be yourself. You're just...the best thing that's happened to me. And I love you."

Eyes filled with tears, she moved over and snuggled up to her boyfriend.

"I love you, too...so much." she whispered into his t-shirt clad chest. Mark wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, bringing him closer to him.

"Mark," she stated, looking up at him.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking down at her, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Can you promise me something?" she asked, sitting up a bit. Mark looked up at her with concern in his eyes.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked quietly, looking her in the eye.

"If anything were to happen to us, anything at all, we'll still remain close to each other, right? We'll still be best friends?"

Mark paused, beginning to get worried at where this conversation was going.

"What are you saying, Maureen?" he asked, starting to sit up.

"Nothing. I just need to know."

"Well, of course. We'll always be close, no matter what. I love you. I'll always love you..." he looked at her, trying to read her face.

"Good, because I don't ever want to lose you." she replied, pulling him into a tight embrace. Mark pulled back and placed a light, loving kiss on her lips.

"You'll never lose me. I'll always be here for you."

_**We've been searching for a lifetime, short as it may seem. Riding on the fumes that spark us, while igniting dreams.  
**_

"Marky, come on! You'll love it!"

"No! It's not safe!"

Maureen stood at the edge of a slight cliff which descended into a mellow river. She and Mark grew up spending hot days during their summer vacations swimming here with their friends.

"Maaark!" she complained, bending over in frustration. "Why won't you jump with me?"

"I told you why! It's not safe. And I'm afraid of heights. That's why I'm standing over here near the car." Sure enough, Mark was standing by his old beat-up station wagon, wearing his swim trunks.

"Oh come on! I've done it a million times, and look! I'm fine! Come on, I'll hold your hand!" she held her hand out in Mark's direction, encouraging him to take hold of it.

"No!" he said, backing up slightly, eyes widening as his girlfriend walked towards him with a wide smile on her face.

"Fine." she gave in, stopping short. "But you always say you're looking for something exciting to do...Life's short!" she said, turning her back and walking towards the cliff again. "You're only young once – you might as well live it up..." She looked back at Mark.

There was a slight silence as both people looked at each other.

"You said it was a dream of yours to fly someday. Why not now?" She turned back around to face the water, wishing Mark would change his mind.

"Ahh!" Surprised, Maureen turned around, just in time to see Mark running towards her, hand outstretched to take hers. Hands clasped, they both jumped, screaming until their bodies broke the water, plunging into the deep river.

"Ah!" Maureen exclaimed as she resurfaced, running a hand over her face to brush away we curls that had fallen into her eyes.

When Mark resurfaced, she swam over to him and wrapped her arms around him, placing a kiss on his lips as he treaded water.

"How was it like flying?" she asked, pulling out of the kiss, smiling.

"No day but today." she smiled, pulling her in for a deeper kiss.

**_Mistakes we knew we were making. Mistakes we knew we were making. Don't think about chances we're taking.  
_**

"Mmm!" Mark moaned into the deep kiss, his pants tightening at the contact of Maureen's knee between his legs.

"Oh God!" he panted as Maureen broke away, unbuckling his pants. He reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt, bringing it up and over her head. Quickly, Maureen pulled her skirt up and around her waist, lowering her panties as Mark took off his shirt and boxers.

Maureen straddled her boyfriend, kissing him passionately, taking her bra off in the process.

"Mmm! Are you sure?" he asked, pulling away. She kissed his jaw line, traveling further and further down his neck, causing him to moan.

"Yes!" she moaned, kissing his mouth again as his hands grasped her breasts.

Taking this as a sign to continue, he bucked his hips up in much need of contact.

"Oh!" she broke away from the kiss. "Do you have a condom?" she asked, running her hands over his pale chest and torso.

"What?" he asked, resting his hands on her hips.

"You don't have a condom? I thought all guys carried condoms with them!" she said, breathing hard.

"Well! I didn't think we'd be in the back parking lot of the school, doing it in the back of my car!" he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes quickly.

The two just looked at each other for a minute or so, not sure what to do.

"Oh, fuck it!" Maureen exclaimed, bending down to kiss Mark passionately, lowering herself onto Mark.

"Oh God...Maureen...!" Mark exclaimed, moaning at the feeling of the much needed contact, rolling his head back in pleasure.

_**Mistakes we knew...  
**_

Mark walked up to Maureen's door and knocked on it, breathing hard and praying her parents wouldn't answer it. When he had spoken to her on the phone, she asked him to go over. She sounded upset. He got worried, and ran over to her house.

The door opened, and Maureen appeared. Her face and eyes were red, and her lips were swollen from crying.

"Mo, what's wrong? You sounded really upset on the phone." he asked, entering the house and following her up the stairs to her room.

When she entered her room, she sat down on her bed, tears silently falling down her cheeks. Mark sat down beside her and took her hands in his.

"Maureen?" he asked, looking her in the eye. "What's going on? You're starting to scare me."

Maureen sniffed and wiped a few tears away.

"Mark, I'm..." she started crying hard, covering her mouth with her hand. Mark's eyes widened.

"You're what, Maureen?" he asked softly, taking her hand away from her mouth. She bowed her head, not wanting to make eye contact.

"...Pregnant." she whispered.

Mark thought he heard wrong. "What?!" he asked, his heart starting to race.

"I'm pregnant!" she sobbed. Mark was completely shocked.

"B-but it was our first, and only, time! How could this have happened?" he asked, running a hand through his light, blond hair.

"It can happen, even if it's the first time..." she said quietly, wiping more tears away.

"Shit." Mark closed his eyes tightly and sighed. "Now what?"

"I don't know." Maureen admitted.

Mark sighed again and started pacing around her room. He couldn't believe he got Maureen pregnant.

"But," she said, sniffling, "whatever we do decide to do...don't leave me." she said quietly, finishing in barely a whisper.

Mark stopped where he was walking and looked at Maureen. She was scared, and he could tell. He walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I told you – I'll always be here for you. I promised." he looked her in the eye and kissed her. "I love you, no matter what. We'll get through this...Somehow." he pulled her into another embrace.

"I never meant for this to happen." she sobbed into her boyfriend's neck.

_**And when we try to think of the life inside, we find ourselves looking at the world through new eyes.  
**_

"Whoa, baby!" Maureen exclaimed, sitting up a bit from her spot on Mark's couch, putting a hand on her enlarged abdomen.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Mark asked, sitting up quickly from his spot next to his girlfriend.

"It's...wow..." she said, smiling, recognizing the weird feeling she was experiencing.

"What?" Mark asked, smiling a bit, looking nervously down at her stomach. "What's going on?"

Maureen could hear the worry in his voice. She smiled bigger and looked up at Mark, his eyes wide with poorly hidden panic.

"It's nothing _bad_, Pookie, it's just kicking." she giggled.

"Kicking?" Mark asked, getting curious, and sat up all the way to face Maureen.

"Yeah, you want to feel?" she asked.

Mark paused for a second. "Yeah, sure...where?" he asked, reaching his hand out a bit.

"Over here." she said, pointing to the right side of her swollen tummy. Mark leaned over and put his hand on the spot and waited for a kick. After a few seconds of waiting, he felt nothing.

"I can't feel anything." he said disappointedly, looking up at Maureen.

"Here." she said, taking his hand in hers and moving it up and to the left more. She kept her hands on his, waiting for the kick.

"Hold on," Maureen smiled. Mark waited patiently, biting his lip.

All of a sudden he felt it. He could feel his baby kicking!

"Oh my God!" he smiled, and quickly put his other hand on her stomach to feel, eyes wide with excitement.

"I can't believe that's our baby in there." Mark admitted quietly.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" she smiled, looking at him.

"Yeah." he agreed, bending down, planting a light kiss on the spot where the baby was kicking.

_**Driving in the rain to the hospital. Quiet aches intense. What at once just seemed the impossible now makes perfect sense.  
**_

"Faster!" Maureen cried from the passenger seat of Mark's station wagon, clutching her stomach in pain.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Mark exclaimed, putting his foot down harder on the gas, accelerating the car.

"Oh my God!" she winced as another contraction wracked her body. Mark looked at her nervously. They were almost at the hospital.

"I never thought this would be happening! I can't believe this is actually happening!" he said, turning his attention away from Maureen, keeping his wide, blue eyes on the road.

"Me neither," Maureen sighed heavily once the contraction was over. "But it is." she smiled briefly, looking at Mark.

He smiled back, pulling into the hospital's parking lot and quickly helping her out of the car.

_**We held hands to face the uncomfortable cold and lonely room. Magazines and empty distractions barely got us through.  
**_

"Almost done, almost done..." Mark said, watching the monitor next to Maureen's bed, which was tracking her contractions. She was holding onto his hand, squeezing with all her might. He swallowed, trying to forget the pain.

"Oww!" she moaned, lightening her grip on his hand, but not letting go. She rolled her head back as he padded her face with a towel, wiping the sweat away.

"I'm sorry about your hand, Marky." she breathed heavily, looking up at him.

"It's okay...just don't push yet." Mark smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

Maureen moaned. "But it hurts so badly! I just want it out!"

"The doctor said you're not ready yet. He said if it gets really bad, concentrate on something else to distract us a bit." he bit his lip as she moaned again. He couldn't help but feel guilty for putting Maureen through this much pain.

"What should we do?" she asked, grabbing the cup of ice from her bedside table, popping a few into her mouth.

"Umm..." he said, looking around to think of something, "How abooouuut..." he sighed. "I-Spy?" he asked cautiously.

Maureen smirked, swallowing the rest of the ice. "Alright. You go first."

"Okay..." Mark looked around the room, scanning for anything interesting. On the windowsill, he spotted a pink, glass flower vase.

"I spy with my little eye, something pink." he said, looking at his girlfriend.

"Hmm..." she said, looking around the cold room. "Is it – Oh!" she exclaimed as another contraction hit.

"Oh God! Fuck! My vagina!" she winced, squeezing Mark's hand again. Mark couldn't help but smirk at Maureen's fake answer.

_**What can now be said, oh little one, on the other side? "Dance until the band stops playing," "Sing with all our might." The list goes on...  
**_

"He's so beautiful." she whispered as the baby slept in her arms. Mark was lying next to her in her hospital bed, admiring their newborn son with her.

"He is." he smiled, feeling the grip of the baby's small fist on his finger tighten.

There was a short silence where both of them just looked at their son, enjoying the peace and quiet.

"I'm going to make sure he grows up with the best life I can give him." Maureen admitted softly. Mark smiled and leaned his head against hers. "I want him to be happy and to live his life to the fullest. But I just want him to be happy." she turned her head so she was looking at Mark.

"I love you. So much." she smiled, tears in her eyes.

"I love you, too." he said, kissing her lightly.

They knew that they had made a big mistake, but it was one that was definitely worth making.

--

**Alright, so what'd you think? XP R&R, please. Feedback is very helpful!**

**Thank you :), **

**  
-EB91**


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